Railroad-track structure



Jan. 24, 1928.

W. DALTON.

RAILROAD TRACK STRUCTURE Filed sept. 2O, 1926 Patented `24, 1928.

UNITED sTATEs PATENT OFFICE.

'WILLIAM DALTON, 0F GLENVILLE, NEW YORK.

RAILROAD-TRACK STRUCTURE.

Application filed September 20, 1928. Serial No. 138,447.

This application is a continuation in part of my application Serial No.101,259, led April 12, 1926. It relates to railroad track structures andespeciallyr to railroad track structures wherein the ties are made frommetal.

One object of the invention is to provide an improved form andconstruction of metal railroad tie which can be provided at l' low cost,which furnishes a goodsuppor't for the rail, and which, by reason of itsconstruction, enables the rail to be fastened to it in lan improved andadvantageous manner. l Another object of the invention is to provide animproved tie structure wherein the major portion of the tie may be madewith grelat advantage from lengths of old or worn rai I0 A furtherobject of the invention is to provide an improved form of tie adapted tohave fastened to it rails having base flanges of different widths, whichmeans that the tie may be standardized for various weights of rails. l

Other objects of the invention as well as the advanta es of theinvention are pointed out hereinagter, and for a consideration of what Ibelieve to be novel and my invention, attention is directed to thefollowing specification and the claims appended thereto.

In the drawin Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a railroad tie embodyingmy invention;

the manner in which a track rail may be attached to the tie; Fig. 3 is atop plan view..

of the tie, and Fig. 4 1s a perspective view v of a modied form of tracktie.

Referring to the drawing, Figs. 1 t`o 3 inclusive, thetie comprises twolengths of old or worn rail 1. and 2 which stand in spaced relation toeach other and are fastened together at their ends by end plates 3 and4. The end plates may be fastened to the worn rail lengths which formthe tie in any suitable manner but preferably I weld them thereto asthis provides a most eixicient form of connection and one which can beprovided at low cost. The end plates are inthe form of angle bars, onewall of the' angle bar being located beneath the base 4flanges 5 of theworn rail lengths andthe other wall extending across the ends of theworn rail lengths. The bottom flanges of the .worn rail lengths and thewall of the angle bar which is located beneath them are l plates 8 whichlie on-top Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing.

welded together as is indicated at a. The Wall extending across the endsof the worn rail sections may be or may not be welded .to the railsections as is found desirable. Ordinarily, when worn rails are madeinto lengths they are first nicked and then bro en. This leaves the ends`i'ough and irre ular in shape. However, by usin an e bars, as shown,which extend beneat an are welded to the bottom flanges of the worn raillengths, I avoid any dilliculties as far as the irregular ends areconcerned because the bottom surface of the bottom fianges of the wornrail sections are smooth and iiat. The vertical walls of the angle bars3 and 4 perform an important function in that they serve to anchor` thetie ,in the ballast. I consider the use of angle bars for fasteningtogether the rail lengths as being an important feature of my invention.

The webs of the old rail sections are indicated at 6 and the top flangesare indicated at 7. At the points where the track rails lie on the tie,I provide supporting of flanges 7 and are welded thereto as 1s indicatedat 9. Supporting plates 8 are of suitable thickness and at oplpositeends they are provided with rectang ar openings 10 located. over thespace between the top lian-ges' 7 of the worn rail lengths. Opemn 10, inthe embodiment of the invention i lustrated in the drawing, are spacedapart a distance somewhat greater than the width of the base flanges ofthe largest rails with which the tie is intended to e used which adaptsthe tie when used with a rail fastening meansl as shown in Fig. `2, tohave fastened to it any one of a numberl of different sizes of rails.This is an impor/tant consideration in case a rail-fastening means asshown in Fig. 2 is utilized becauseit enables the tie to be made in astandard size adapted for use with rails having base flanges ofdifferent widths.

. In connection with supporting plates 8,

it will be noted that they are of a .widths measured transversely o fthetie such that the longitudinally-extending ed es of plates 8termlnate directly over We s 6. This serves to concentrate the loaddirectly on Athe webs and to remove it from the edges of the flangesthus avoiding a tendency to cause the tie members to tilt.

By the above described arrangement, I provide a metal railroad tieAwhich can be constructed at low cost, especially when made fromlengthsV of worn rail sections. In this connection, it will beappreciated that large numbers of worn rails are removed each year andsold as scrap material. These rails when removed, if used for makingties, are where they are to be again used as ties. My improved tie canbe constructed readily at any place since no special shop equipment isrequired in its `manufacture. As a result, therefore, in making tiesaccording to my invention from worn rails, transportation of the wornrails to a point of manufacture is minimized which means a substantialsaving in cost.

Also in constructing ties according to my invention, scrap `angle -ironsmay be used fr the end plates. In this connection, any angle iron hasone surface at least which is true and the bottom surface of the baseflange of a worn rail is always a tr'ue surface. yThus there areprovided and always available two true fiat surfaces which may befastened together. Also, any size of angle iron may be used since theonly requirement is that it provide one true surface. As a result, scrapangle irons of various sizes may be used in carrying out the invention.Also, any size of angle irons may be used with any size of scrap rails.This gives great flexibility in using scrap material in theconstructionY of the ties.

A further important advantage of my invention from a manufacturingstandpoint is that the parts may be welded together with straight linewelds which means that the welding can be done with a line weldingmachine.V As shown in the drawing, the vertical flange of the angle barsis spaced from the ends of the rail lengths, it being unnecessary tofasten it to the rail lengths. The vertical flanges of the angle barshowever perform an important function in that as pointed out above, theyserve to anchor the tie against endwise movement.

In considering the structure shown in Figs. 1 to 3, it will be seen thatthe tie comprises only six pieces, two lengths of old rail, two angleirons, which may be scrap material) and two at tie plates. This is aminimum number of parts and enables the tie to be constructed with aminimum amount oflabor. The two angle irons are so distributedrelatively to the two worn rail sections, the tie plates being fastenedto the tops of the rail scctions and the two angle irons to the bottomthereof, that there results a. girder construction which lends greatstrength and stiffness to the tie. With this construction, there is nodanger that the two rail sections which form thetie will be spread bythe wheels of a train passing over them. The construction has stren hsubstantially greater than that of a woo en tie and in addition itpretwo tie plates and the sents to the `ballast of the roadbed asubstantially greater surface so that it is capable of supporting a'muchgreater load. In

this connection it will be understood that a railroad tie distributes aconcentrated axle -load through the ballast to a resilient soil and thatsuch soil, ordinarily, is capable o supporting a load of the order of6000 pounds per square foot. For carrying heavy axle loads, therefore,it is important that the tic should present a large supporting surfaceto the ballast. A tie embodying my invention resents to the ballast asurface substantial y larger Ithan that presented by a wooden tie.

My improved-tie, although not limited thereto necessarily, is welladapted for use with a rail fastening means such as that illustrated inFig. 2 Referring to Fig. 2, 12 indicates a track rail, 13 being the headof the rail and 14 being the base flange. Base flange ,14 rests on tieplate 8 between openings 10, openings 10 being spaced apart a distancesuch that their inner edges stand in spaced relation to the outer edgesof base flange 14 whereby there are provided clampingedges 15 at eachside of base flange 14.

ase flange fastening means each comprising a fastener or rail clamp 16and a keeper or wedge bar 17. Fastener 16 has a groove 18 in whichclamping edge 15 is located, a vertical surface 19 for holding the railagainst trans verse movement, and a nose 2O which rojects over the topof base flange 14 to old the rail against vertical movement. Kee er 17comprises a wedge shaped bar located etween fastener 16 and the outeredge of opening 10. It is locked in position by a. cotter pin 21 whichfits into opposed grooves in the adjacent faces of the fastener andkeeper. The rail is insulated from the tie by means of suitableinsulating members 22 and 23 `which fit under the base flange of therail and lie between fastener 16 and the base flange of the rail. i

In Fig. 4 is illustrated a modification wherein the tie plate instead ofbeing formed from a single iece with openings 1n it, is formed from tree pieces, a central piece 24 and two side pieces 25. These pieces areset down between the worn rail sections so they are flush with the topsurfaces of them and they are welded in position as is indicated at 26.Side pieces 25 are spaced .from central piece 2,4*so as to provideopenings 27 adapted to 'receive rail fastening means such as those shownin Fig. 2. Otherwise the construction shown in Fig. 4 is the same asthat shown in Figs. 1 io 3 and possesses substantially the sameadvantages. The pieces 24 and 25 may with advantage be rovided withportions 28 which project un er the heads of the worn rail sect-ions toassist 1n a good fastening for 14 is fastened to the tie by the pieces,and also .-for anchoring them against vertical movement.

invention as beingA carried out in connection with the use of old orworn rail lengths, it is to be understood that the invention s'notlimited to the use of such ,rail lengths as bars of any suitable crosssection, such as H-bars, Z-bars or the like may be utilized if founddesirable.

In accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes, I havedescribed the principle of operation of my invention, together with theapparatus which I now consider to represent the best embodiment thereof,but I desire to have it understood that the structure shown is onlyillustrative and that the invention may be carried out by such othermeans as come within the scope of the appended claims.

'What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of theUnited States, is

1. A metal tie comprising two bars located side b side in spacedrelation to each other, each ar comprising a top flange and a bottomiiange united by a vertical web,

'and meansconnecting said bars together comprising .angle irons locatedat the ends of the bars, one wall of each angle iron extending beneathsaid bottom anges and being welded thereto and the other'wall .oi-

each angle iron extendingvertically across the ends of the .bars toserveas a means for anchoring the tie against transverse move- While'gI haveparticularly described my ment, and rail-supporting plates welded to thetops of said top lian es in spaced relation to the ends of said arswhereby said angle irons and plates are attached independently toopposite ilanges of said bars to form a girder construction, said platesbeing provided with openings to receive rail-fastening means. 1 Y

2. A metal tie comprising two bars located side by side in spaced,relation to each other, each bar comprising a top flan e and a bottomflange united by a vertica 'web, and means connecting said barsftogethercomprising angle irons located at the ends of the bars, one wall of eachangle iron extending beneath said bottom anges and being welded theretoand the other wall of each angleiron extending vertically across theends of the bars to serve as a means for anchoring the tie againsttransverse movement, and Vrail-supporting plates welded to the tops ofsaid top flanges in spaced relation to the ends of said bars and with'their longitudinally-extending edges directly over said verticalwebs,said plates being provided with openings to receive rail-fasteningmeans.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 17th day ofSeptember, 1926.

` WILLIAM DALTON.'

